Three F1 drivers summoned by FIA after multiple FP1 incidents in Mexico

The FIA stewards summoned three drivers following the first practice at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City.

Following a dramatic crash in first practice, the FIA summoned the two drivers involved, while another was summoned on the grounds of ignoring yellow flags.

Alex Albon and Oliver Bearman summoned by FIA stewards

With just over 35 minutes remaining in first practice, the red flags were shown to cover a hefty collision between Ferrari’s Oliver Bearman and Williams’ Alex Albon.

Bearman, taking over Charles Leclerc’s SF-24 as the Scuderia handed over a car to a junior driver as required on two separate occasions during the season, was negotiating his way slowly through the esses in the middle sector.

Albon, approaching quickly on a flying lap, appeared to set himself up to sweep past the Williams at high speed and took plenty of inside kerb. This, combined with some lift-off oversteer, resulted in the British-Thai driver losing control of the rear of his Williams.

During his efforts to gather the car up, he ran out of room to avoid swiping the side of Bearman’s Ferrari. Tearing off his own right-rear wheel from its position, Albon slid off sideways at high speed and smacked off the tyre barriers.

The Williams driver took to team radio to brand the Ferrari driver an “idiot” before climbing out – thankfully, both drivers were unharmed and clambered free while the red flags were shown to allow the marshals to recover the cars and reset the barriers.

The stewards noted the incident at the time and decided to summon both drivers – Bearman and Albon visited the stewards at 14:00 local time for an alleged breach of Article 33.4 of the FIA Formula 1 Sporting Regulations which states “At no time may a car be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person.”

Following the meeting with the stewards, the decision was taken: no further action.

According to the verdict document, the Stewards heard from Albon and Bearman), as well as team representatives, and reviewed, video, telemetry, team radio, and in-car video evidence.

“Bearman was on a cool-down lap with the team letting him know about cars behind,” said the stewards.

“Albon was on a fast lap. Just after Turn 9, Bearman, who was recharging and thus going relatively slow, pulled to the right. When Albon came around Turn 9, he had Bearman in front of him and lifted.

“Because the car was under significant loading in the corner, it caused him to oversteer.

“Both drivers agreed that Bearman’s positioning was not unreasonable, but was unfortunate as it was close to Albon’s line. Had Bearman been slightly further down the track it would not have resulted in an incident.

“All parties agreed that it was a racing incident.”

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Separately, the stewards also summoned Sauber FP1 driver Robert Shwartzman.

The Israeli-Russian driver was summoned on the grounds of an alleged breach of Appendix H, Article 2.5.5.b of the International Sporting Code, overtaking under the yellow flags shown in response to the collision.

The rookie driver, who has never raced in a Grand Prix and doesn’t have a contract to do so any time soon, has been given a five-place grid penalty for the next Grand Prix he does participate in – should he ever do so.

“Following the incident at Turn 9, Shwartzman passed a single waved yellow, and a double yellow flag before overtaking Tsunoda in the yellow zone while traveling at speed,” he said.

“The penalty is the usual penalty for passing under a double yellow, and while the Stewards recognise that the driver is not scheduled to start the race, they have applied the consistent penalty.”

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